Lightning
by Lovely1
Summary: 7X24, Saracentric. She imagined him now, raging like a rodeo bull. Of course he would know she was missing...


Spoilers for Living Doll. Gil/Sara, Sara Centric. Previous version replaced because I am a goof. Don't sue me. I don't own it… just a Texas Accent and a Laptop. Unbetaed, so I guess I must own the mistakes. Hopefully there are fewer this time.

Possibility this could continue into one more chapter. Thank you for your continued support.

'Ugh,' Sara thought as she slowly regained consciousness. What a night! The last thing she remembered was heading out the car. Now she was stiff and sore. The mattress felt unusually hard. 'Time to change that damn number again.' As the irrepressible brain fog began to lift, she felt the moisture on her face and dead weight on her back.

"Gil, gurroff me." She mumbled, trying to struggle and get her face out of the lukewarm puddle. "You just had to get a boxer, didn't you? Couldn't get something that didn't slobber on the pillows… nooo, had to have a boxer." She grumbled reaching out for the heavy object on top of her leg.

The weight didn't move. She swore she could hear the two of them snoring loudly. 'He must be as out of it as I was.' It was her first conscious thought.

Slowly Sara opened her eyes and the feeling returned. There was no pillow, no snoring boxer… and what she thought was her sleeping partner was actually gritty and metallic. It was dark, and dirty water splashed in her eyes from fat raindrops. The ground was still slightly warm; the thick air filled with the sweet smell of engine fluids and rain. Above her, thunder crescendoed as a downpour renewed its fervor. Where in the hell was she?

She felt her heart rate rise and her breaths became short and quick. She became dizzy; her thoughts clouded. She struggled to move her extremities. Her foot wouldn't move, she tugged and pain tore through her. She tried to move her knee, and relief flooded her when it bent a little. It still wasn't enough. The panic was building, suffocating, blinding. She could feel her heartbeat in her ears, so loud it was hard to think. Tears filled her eyes as she reached out for something, anything but mud. A patch of limp, rain beaten grass entwined with her outstretched fingers, dark green strings clinging to her flesh. She pulled harder, willing her body to follow. Her hand recoiled suddenly, filled with sodden plant. She had torn it by its roots.

"Get a grip." She commanded herself. It wasn't easy to heed her command, but she began to breath slower, easier. She began to shake, every inch of her body tingled with adrenaline. She didn't feel the pain anymore, at least not for a while.

Lucid thoughts returned as her breathing slowed. She tried to assess the situation. She angled her head so the rain wouldn't slap sand in her eyes. Her left side was hopelessly pinned. She slightly shifted her weight, as much as her beaten body would allow, pushing her left hip further in the ground. The pain was maddening, but at least she could breathe better.

'Think. Sara. Think.' She tried to calm herself. She didn't know how long she had been there, or how long before someone found her. She tried to fill herself with determination to live. She had to make it. Gil would find her. Gil would have the answers. He always did… even if they weren't always the right ones.

She made herself think of their Berkley days. Easy enough, those were good times. Sitting toward the front of a giant lecture hall, she tried to figure out if the cute lecturer wore boxers or briefs. Her roommate swore all the current lecturing PhDs were tighty-whity men, and a visiting PhD lecturing on Forensic Entomology? Tonya had bet a month's rent that his tighty-whities were firmly glued to his ass.

After the lecture, which was more interesting than she had ever anticipated, she tracked him down on the massive gray steps in front of the library. She had many more questions, and not a one having to do with the soon-to-be forgotten bet. The two had found effortless conversation. Conversation led to coffee; coffee to walks and subsequent sight-seeing tours over the next few evenings. It had been surreal; natural… falling in love with Gil Grissom had been the easiest thing she had ever done. After a clumsy first kiss in Muir Woods, she thought they would never look back.

It had been a long road, full of "one step forward, fifty steps back" moments. He had kissed her several more times before they finally got together. There had been Terry for him, and Hank for her, and then that boundless pain-in-the-ass, Heather. Gil could be dense at times, but he always came back to her. They did their dance for years; she knew every step by heart.

It only took one moment, one look at her mortality, for him to give into what he fought for so long. No more what he thought was right, no more avoiding it out of fear of inadequacy. He followed his heart. She had the house, the car, the dog, the ring and the last name. Gil fulfilled every fantasy that flashed before in those wondrous first moments standing in the cool of those giant redwoods. The only regret was Catherine hadn't seen the amazing platinum cased rock hiding in her jewelry box.

She imagined him now, raging like a rodeo bull. He would have noticed she hadn't called when she got home, like she said she would. It would worry him that she wasn't answering her cell. It always frustrated him when she deviated from their routines. It wouldn't be very pretty, especially after that doll found at the Dell crime scene. Dual stressors made Gil a little more fun than a caged animal. He would be pacing, snapping at his closest friends, pushing everyone to their very limits.

Of course he would know she was missing! He would order a search party with helicopters! Yes, helicopters! They would find her; he would find her. She clung to that thought, tightening her fists into a ball. He would have been by the house and known she wasn't home. Right now he would be barking out orders and daring Ecklie to get in his way. There would be lightning in his blue eyes. She wouldn't allow herself to picture tears.

Lightening in his eyes… It was her last thought before the pain overtook her.


End file.
